Today on our Wall of Shame is The Hill Times, an independent weekly newspaper on federal politics based out of Ottawa. The Hill Times has advertised editorial, design, photography and website internships that we strongly suspect do not comply with Ontario Employment Standards Act.

You can view the advertisements at www.hilltimes.com/internships and we have saved a PDF of the page here in case they take it down. Although the advertisement states “All internships are unpaid”, it makes no mention of an educational program or training of any kind.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has been placed on our Wall of Shame following an advertisement for a “Fundraising Intern” in Toronto.

While the career level classification is “student”, the job description requires a “university or college diploma” suggesting that the intern could be a graduate. While unclear based on the advertisement, this position may be required to be a paid position under Ontario’s Employment Standards Act. Alternatively, even if this position falls within United Nations immunity for employees, our position is that all United Nations internships should be paid in order to create equal opportunities.

We will also take this opportunity to acknowledge the excellent work being done by some of our partner organizations, the Geneva Interns Association and the Fair Internship Initiative. These groups advocate to end unpaid internships at the United Nations and other international organizations primarily on the grounds that only the world’s most advantaged people can access them. Every year, the United Nations alone employs more than 2,000 unpaid interns in the world’s most expensive cities. We strongly support their efforts and hope to see all United Nations interns receive wages for their work.

The Canadian Football League (“CFL”) has now removed advertisements for a series of internships for “highly qualified candidates”, offering only an unspecified “”monthly honorarium”. A spokesperson for the CFL has stated that the advertisements are under “review”.

Fortunately, we have saved a PDF of the advertisements, which can be viewed here. The internships were to be located in Toronto, and held the following titles:

Intern, Web Developer

Intern, Social Media & Content

Intern, Corporate Partnerships

Intern, Marketing

Intern, Football Operations

Intern, Digital Products

Intern, Graphic Design

The positions require candidates to have “recently completed” or be “in the process of completing” and relevant college diploma or university degree, and often require specific technical skills, such as experience with JavaScript, HTML, Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, Audio/Video equipment. For some positions, a time commitment “40 hours per week” is provided with an “occasional requirement to work overtime”.

The Toronto Star has exposed the CFL’s internship advertisements in this article.

Earlier today, the Canadian Intern Association wrote Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour MaryAnn Mihychuk urging her government to halt the Canada Labour Program’s unpaid internship consultations and to enact meaningful reforms to prevent employee misclassification in the federal jurisdiction.

The current consultations focus on the establishment of regulations for the coming into force of the unpaid internship loopholes created by the Harper government in the 2015 Budget Implementation Act. The Canadian Intern Association adamantly opposes these provisions, which will allow federally regulated employers to “hire” unpaid interns if certain conditions are met.

The Canadian Intern Association wrote Minister Mihychuk urging her to halt the coming into force of these provisions, and to notify her of our withdrawal from further participation in the Canada Labour Program’s consultations.

As part of our ongoing commitment to public legal education and improving the workplace rights of interns, we’re making a ‘know your rights’ guide for interns and young workers – the Canadian Intern Rights Guide.

Better yet – do you know a young worker who could use a copy of the Guide? Simply provide their name and address in the “purpose” section of your Paypal donation of $25* or more, and we’ll send them a complementary copy of the Canadian Intern Rights Guide!